If you can play the piano, does it mean you're good at maths

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The other day I was talking to some people about being able to play the keyboard. I can't play with two hands, but I can play thousands of songs with my right hand and control the background rhythm music with my left hand, and I can remember how each song goes each time as though I'm a real composer. I can even play songs really fast, also with my eyes closed sometimes. I remember my mum teaching me how to play a few easy songs on a small keyboard when I was as young as 3 or 4, and then it stuck with me and as I got older I started independantly playing more tunes myself, until I knew I had built up quite a neat talent by age 12. I now own a keyboard and I like to just play songs on it for fun.

But they said (in a complimental way) that I must be really good at maths too, if I can play the keyboard like that. I immediately knew that wasn't true for me, because I have never been good with maths at all, it has always been my main intellectual weakness, and I am just not good at it in any way. I can socialise better than tell you anything about maths. I haven't even learnt all of my timetables yet, and I have difficulties working out any type of sum in my head or on paper.

But has anyone else here heard of having a musical talent being linked to being good at maths? Or is it just a myth?

Joe, having spent some time in college physics studying music, I know there is definitely a correlation between math, physics, and music--but only for musical theory. But as sharp as my physics professor was at musical theory, he admitted to the class that he couldn't play any instruments. And I'm guessing many of our most gifted musicians couldn't recite the times tables at gun point. Being able to play an instrument and understanding the theory behind it are definitely separable. Then, it sounds as if your own experience confirms this.

Last edited by Thelibrarian on 30 Jun 2013, 4:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Music has some mathematical qualities, but I don't think, based purely on my experiences, that mathematical skill relates to musical skill.

I've heard a lot of people thinking they must be linked, but I've never noticed any great mathematical ability in most of the musicians I know, and I know a lot of musicians.

When I had my music studio, many years ago, I would usually ask the parents of the student in question about their grades in both language arts, as well as math, since those grades were usually a good indicator on how successful the student would be playing an instrument. If they already knew how to play piano, then they usually had no problem transferring those skills to another instrument.

i'm great at math, but don't have the manual dexterity to be a good pianist.

I've been known to get straight A's in math; however, I'm only average at the piano. I'm good at the piano, but I'm not as good as the best pianists, like Beethoven.

I played the piano for years and could still play, just now with my right hand, both hands if I was dedicated to practicing.

I wasn't particularly good at or interested in math ever. I think about numbers more related to dates and in relation to sports statistics.

I've never heard that about math, but I have known quite a few math people who were quite adept at playing musical instruments.

In general, though, I don't think there is any direct correlation between the two.

If I were to try to organize people of various sciences in groups, it would not be along the lines of their scientific background, but about the breadth of their scientific interests.

Many scientists are interested in a number of other sciences relatively unrelated to their own fields while others are only interested in their own field. Some are interested only in their own very narrow portion of the field.

It may just be because these are the people I associated with most, but it always seemed that a somewhat greater portion of mathematicians and physicists are interested in a very wide range of sciences than are scientists from other fields of study.

Those few who I have met who were interested in learning more about nearly every field of science were more likely to be mathematics or physics than in other fields. I suspect you will find more interest in music from this group of scientists than others in general.

That reminds me, I went to a conference on cosmology years ago. The principal speaker that weekend was the noted physicist John Wheeler. (If I remember correctly, both Kip Thorne and Charles Misner were there as well.) One scientist from a major research lab in Europe needed to talk to John Wheeler about something and so he came to the conference. When he arrived, he was asked if he would like to give a talk at the conference. He readily agreed to give the talk if he could give it on any subject of his choice. So at a conference on cosmology, he gave an hour long lecture on trees!

I'm very bad at math and piano. If I focus and am dramatically diligent (which I easily can be) I'll do excellently -temporarily.
I quickly lose even the basics of how to do either with in a couple-three months, no matter how much practice I've done.
I still have to re-figure how to do percentage every time - not from a formula but simply from understanding the concept.

Are they related? I could make a thorough argument for that conclusion. Are they significantly different, oh very much yes.
Well enough different that a genius in one may only be mediocre in another.

But then again Autism (and related) can get pretty specific in it's gifts v. inhibitions.

I have noticed a link between athletic ability and musical ability, IOW I've known lots of musicians who were athletically inclined [slender taut physique and catlike physical grace]. if you took a sampling of so many mathletes and so many English/philosophy majors, which sampling would likely have the greater number of musically talented folk in it?

I teach and play piano. Most professional musicians I know are quite intelligent, but they don't have any exceptional mathematical ability per se. However the ability to understand music theory requires a certain logic akin to mathematics. Most pianists know enough theory to understand the music they play, but they don't need to know anything totally esoteric. You don't necessarily have to be a theory genius to play an instrument, just like you don't need to know advanced mathematics for most professions. The majority of playing the piano, or any other instrument for that matter, has more to do with auditory perception and fine motor skills. I actually have a student who is great with theory, but terrible with both fine motor skills and ear training. He scores in the 99th percentile for math, so I suspect there's a correlation between music theory and math. It just does not directly translate into the ability to play an instrument.

If you are dealing w/ notation, dividing by 4 (in 4/4 time) is useful. But most musicians know little about math -- consider the contracts they foolishly sign. Most playing is muscle memory.

This is correct. Some of the best musicians I've known personally couldn't even read musical scores. It's a talent unto itself.

I've never heard of a link between musical talent and maths ability. I feel that I'm a good pianist but a terrible mathematician. I seem to have at least some natural talent when it comes to music but absolutely no talent to speak of whatsoever when it comes to maths.

Knowing music theory and being able to play an instrument are not the same thing. I am very good at math and know music theory. But I do not know how to play an instrument. Getting good at playing an instrument can take hours if not months even years of practice. There is a guy who lives here in my town who can play the piano like Mozart and yet knows absolutely nothing about the theory behind it.